abstinence

ab·sti·nence

The act or practice of refraining from indulging an appetite or desire, especially for alcoholic drink or sexual intercourse.

[Middle English, from Old French abstenance, from Latin abstinentia, from abstinēns, abstinent-, present participle of abstinēre, to hold back; see abstain.]

ab′sti·nent adj.

ab′sti·nent·ly adv.

Synonyms: abstinence, self-denial, temperance, sobriety, continence These nouns refer to the habitual refusal to indulge a desire, especially a sensual one. Abstinence implies the willful avoidance of pleasures, especially of food and drink, thought to be harmful or self-indulgent: "I vainly reminded him of his protracted abstinence from food" (Emily Brontë).Self-denial suggests resisting one's own desires for the achievement of a higher goal: "For too many people, the result of sedentary living is a perennial, losing battle against the bulge: bursts of self-denial interspersed with guilt when self-denial inevitably leads to self-indulgence" (Jane Brody).Temperance refers to moderation and self-restraint and sobriety to gravity in bearing, manner, or treatment; both nouns denote moderation in or abstinence from consuming alcohol: Teetotalers preach temperance for everyone. "[T]hose moments which would come between the subsidence of actual sobriety and the commencement of intoxication" (Anthony Trollope).Continence specifically refers to abstaining from sexual activity: The nun took a vow of continence.

abstinence

(ˈæbstɪnəns)

n

1. the act or practice of refraining from some action or from the use of something, esp alcohol

2. (Roman Catholic Church) chieflyRC Church the practice of refraining from specific kinds of food or drink, esp from meat, as an act of penance

[C13: via Old French from Latin abstinentia, from abstinēre to abstain]

ˈabstinentadj

ˈabstinentlyadv

ab•sti•nence

(ˈæb stə nəns)

also ab′sti•nen•cy,

n.

1. forbearance from indulgence of an appetite.

2. abstention from a drug, as alcohol or heroin, esp. a drug on which one is dependent.

3. the refraining from certain kinds of foods on certain days, as from meat during Lent.

Quotations"Refrain to-night, And that shall lend a kind of easiness To the next abstinence: the next more easy; For use almost can change the stamp of nature" [William Shakespeare Hamlet]"Abstinence is as easy to me, as temperance would be difficult" [Samuel Johnson Correspondence with Mrs. Hannah More]"To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation" [St. Augustine of Hippo On the Good of Marriage]

It was one anchorite's pride to lie naked in the mud and let the insects bite him and blister him unmolested; it was another's to lean against a rock, all day long, conspicuous to the admiration of the throng of pilgrims and pray; it was another's to go naked and crawl around on all fours; it was another's to drag about with him, year in and year out, eighty pounds of iron; it was another's to never lie down when he slept, but to stand among the thorn-bushes and snore when there were pilgrims around to look; a woman, who had the white hair of age, and no other apparel, was black from crown to heel with forty-seven years of holy abstinence from water.

I vainly reminded him of his protracted abstinence from food: if he stirred to touch anything in compliance with my entreaties, if he stretched his hand out to get a piece of bread, his fingers clenched before they reached it, and remained on the table, forgetful of their aim.

He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.

Bold deed thou hast presum'd, adventrous EVE, And peril great provok't, who thus hast dar'd Had it bin onely coveting to Eye That sacred Fruit, sacred to abstinence, Much more to taste it under banne to touch.

But the success has not hitherto been answerable, partly by some error in the QUANTUM or composition, and partly by the perverseness of lads, to whom this bolus is so nauseous, that they generally steal aside, and discharge it upwards, before it can operate; neither have they been yet persuaded to use so long an abstinence, as the prescription requires.

Hence, up to the date of the introduction of the Universal Colour Bill, the Circles had not only held their own, but even increased their lead of the other classes by abstinence from the popular fashion.

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